Medieval Drama

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Medieval Drama

• Everyman

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Why is the period after the fall of Rome known as
the dark ages?

• The period after the fall of Rome is known as the
  dark ages because
• Much political turmoil
• The reliable political structure
• The Church became the only stable government

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How did the Church gain so much influence in the
area of drama?

• The Church exerted increasing influence based on
  Bishop of Romes claim as successor to St. Peter
• Established supremacy in Church matters and in
  secular concerns
• Many Church edicts against mimes, histriones,
  ioculatoresterms for secular performers

4
What fact can be found related to the early
development of drama in the Church?

• Little is known about the theatre between
  600-1000 AD
• References to actors (histriones), jugglers, rope
  dancers in nomadic tribes
• Remnants of Roman mimes, popular pagan festivals
  and rites
• Teutonic minstrels or troubadours (scops) became
  the primary preservers of tribal histories
• After tribes converted to Christianity (7th-8th
  c), scops denounced branded as bad as mimes

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• Church was the literate area of society, so what
  we know about theatrical performance is greater
  in the relgious domain
• Plays by classical Roman authors were transcribed
  in monasteries, but were not performed
• Classical Roman dramas were curated and studied
  for their to the learning of Latin

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• Church has its own form of performances in the
  mass, the divine office, music, processions, and
  Easter rituals
• All these had elements of theatre, but much
  conducted out of sight of the general public
  behind the screens of the chancel
• Elements of theatre found in Church services
  included costumes, a written script, singing,
  sounds, smells, and the richly decorated interior
  of the Church

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• Between 925 and 975, drama introduced into the
  church services, reborn in the very institution
  that shut it down
• Church music become more elaborate with
  increasingly intricate variations added to the
  simple monophonic music known as the Gregorian
  chant
• Elaborations known as topes (figurative/symbolic
  language) were added to certain significant
  passages

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• Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, wrote
  instructions for the earliest recorded form of
  liturgical drama (part of the church service of
  liturgy)
• At a significant point in the celebration of
  Matins at Easter, during the performance of the
  tropes, four brothers (monks) were to enact the
  three Maries and the angel at the empty sepulcher
  of Christ
• Sung performance, and actors wore ecclesiastical
  vestments

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• Earliest extant still in existence, not
  destroyed drama from the Middle Ages
• Four-line dramatization of the resurrection, with
  direction for its performance
• Comes from an Easter trope (interpolation into
  existing text, originally lengthened musical
  passage with words eventually added)
• Sung by a choir at first
• Called the Quem Quaeritis
• Three Maries come to the tomb of Jesus, and the
  angel asks them whom they are seeking
• Whom seek ye in the tomb, O Christians?
• Jesus of Nazereth, the crucified, O heavenly
  beings
• He is not here, he is risen as he foretold
• Go and announce that he is risen from the tomb

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• Little by little this Easter scene was enlarged
• Similar attention was given to the birth of
  Christ in a manager
• By 975, it had become a little drama within the
  service, probably played by altar boys
• Practice blossomedmany playlets developed
  dealing with Biblical themesmostly Easter,
  Christmas, the 12th night (feast of the Epiphany)
• Usually serious, but at Feast of Fools and the
  Feast of the Boy Bishops, much dancing,
  foolishness, and parodies of church practices
  occurred
• Eventually other Biblical scenes and lives the
  saints were added

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• Before 1200, most drama still being done inside
  the Church
• Plays still recited in Latin, the language of the
  Church
• Two main areas for the performances
• Mansionschurch structure usually served as
  mansions (choir loft might serve as heaven the
  altar the tomb of Christ)
• Plateageneral acting area
• Machinery used
• Could fly Christ up to heaven or have angels come
  down to earth
• Costumes were probably ordinary church vestments

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• Between 1200 and 1350, most dramas were outside
• Recited in the vernacular (language of the common
  man), rather than Latin
• Stimulus for the development of vernacular
  religious drama performed outside the churchthe
  establishment of the Feast of Corpus Christi
• Announced by Pope Urban IV in 1264
• Instituted by Clement V in 1311
• Required exposition of the themes of the Fall,
  redemption, and Judgment
• Held in midsummer when days were long and the
  people, in general, were in festive mood
• Laymen were actorsmale members of the
  communityunpaid
• Stories began to widen in scope when not part of
  the liturgy
• Church seemed to support these dramas

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• While Church began to lose control over the
  dramas, they remained basically religious in
  nature.    Guilds or trade/craftsmen groups took
  over in some cities     Guilds were like trade
  unions combined with a social club     Guilds
  cooperated in staging cycles of plays that
  dramatized the whole history of human race as
  then understood  creation by God, fall through
  the wiles of Satan, life in Old Testament times,
  redemption by Christ, and final judgment at the
  end of the world

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•     Certain guilds retained control over certain
  plays/storiesusually those based in some way on
  that particular guilds arts     Bakers Guild
  would control the play about the Last Supper
      Shipwrights Guild would control plays about
  Noah and the Flood     Municipalities took over
  productions in some cities     Church still
  reserved the right to approve scripts, even when
  its role diminished     Plays performed in
  cyclesthe most famous in England York, Chester,
  Coventry, and Wakefield     Each guild had its
  own play to perform in the cycle     Cycles
  might include up to 48 plays     Comic elements
  appeared in plays that were otherwise very
  serious

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• Three kinds of religious plays existed.
     Mystery plays about Christ or from the Old
  Testament (Second Shepherds Play is one of the
  most famous)     Miracle plays about lives of
  the saints, historical and legendary
      Morality playsdidactic allegories, often of
  common mans struggle for salvation (Everyman is
  most famous)     Common characteristics of
  religious plays     Aimed to teach or reinforce
  Church doctrine     Melodramatic  good
  rewarded evil punished     God and his plan
  were the driving forces, not the characters

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